The failure to be invited to the September 26 debate at Hofstra University deals a significant blow to Johnson and Stein, who are desperate for national exposure to promote their long-shot bids for the White House.
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Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson is rallying supporters in Seattle.
Johnson had previously said that his campaign would be doomed if he couldn’t get exposure in what is expected to be one of the most watched debates in history. Notably absent will be Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who did not reach the polling minimum average of 15 percent nationally to be included.
The first presidential debate will take place on September 26 and will feature the Democrat candidate, Hillary Clinton, and the Republican candidate, Donald Trump. It can be argued that this election cycle is the most hard ever for a third party candidate to get the recognition due to the fact that Clinton and Trump have proven themselves to be experts in controlling the news cycle.
The last time a third-party candidate was allowed to participate in the televised debates was in 1992, when Ross Perot met the requirements running as an independent.
Only Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were invited to the event.
Gary Johnson and Jill Stein didn’t make the cut for the first presidential debate due to low poll numbers, according to Politico.
The entire statement released by the CPD can be found here. The former Republican governor of New Mexico said on Friday that he was not surprised by the commission’s decision to exclude him, claiming the organisation was more bipartisan than non-partisan.
The commission is a bipartisan group that organizes the general election debates every four years.
The chance of Johnson and Stein debating this fall have not been completely eliminated, however.
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The CPD said the same measures will be used to determine which candidates are invited to the next presidential debates, scheduled for October 9 in St. Louis and October 19 in Las Vegas.
